Page 86 of Exacting Vengeance

He bolted from the SUV and met his brothers as they pulled in behind him. Red-and-blue flashing lights bounced between buildings. Smoke filled the air. During the drive over, he’d made multiple calls and gotten a clear picture of what had happened.

The agent on guard out front had been lured by a screaming woman pleading for help about the fire. Ignoring the plea hadn’t been possible. When he’d notified his partner parked on the other side of the building, the other agent hadn’t answered. He’d been tased through the open window. Now both agents were outside Victoria’s apartment, guarding it until the forensic team Kyle activated could arrive.

As a unit, he and his brothers raced up the stairs to the second floor. Tracee stood outside Victoria’s apartment door, wringing her hands. The agents who’d been on guard duty could barely look him in the eye.

“Sorry, Kyle,” one of them said.

“I know you are,” was all he could think to say. In the face of danger and people in trouble, they’d reacted the only way they could. By trying to help. As much as he wanted to vent his anger and frustration, it wouldn’t accomplish anything constructive. “Wait outside and tell forensics where we are.”

After they’d left, Kyle had been about to head inside the apartment when Traceee stopped him.

“Victoria told me everything,” she said, her tone grave. “About her past, about Yuri. And about you.”

He didn’t have time to guess at what she was implying. Had Victoria really told her everything? It didn’t matter. The only thing that did, was finding her.

“Do you really think she’s been kidnapped?” Tracee asked.

In his gut, he knew the answer was yes. “Stay here.” He pushed open the door, his mind screaming with alarm at what he might find—proof that Tracee was right.

Between workouts and genetics, his heart rate had always been exceptionally low. Right now, his heart thundered like a thousand fireworks going off inside his chest.

The flowers Tracee had described lay strewn on the floor beside the coffee table. That wasn’t what bothered him the most. It was the stench of cigar smoke that made him curl his hand into a tight fist. Cuban Maduros—Yuri’s cigar of choice. He’d know that earthy, woodsy smell anywhere.

The pounding in his chest grew louder as reality slammed home. Not that he’d really doubted it, but now he was beyond certain.

Yuri really did have Victoria.

Heinous images nearly sent him to his knees. He had to regain control for her sake and treat this like a routine kidnapping. Only it wasn’t. It was Victoria, and nothing was routine about that. He had to push his fear away before it consumed him.

Digging deep, he pulled on his years of military special forces and FBI training. “Search the kitchen and the living room,” he said to his brothers. “I’ll take the bedroom.”

The lights in Victoria’s bedroom were on. Her sweet scent was everywhere, and he had to grind his teeth to keep his mind steady and focused. He took in the rumpled sheets on the bed they’d once made love in⁠—

And the suitcase.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office had been clear that she wasn’t to leave the Tri-State area until a charging decision had been made. That wasn’t what bothered him most about the packed suitcase. What red-flagged more than anything was the photo of Victoria’s mother. Wherever Victoria had been going, she hadn’t planned on coming back.

“Dammit.” Kyle pressed his lips together. After all her adamant refusals not to run again…

Not that it was the priority to understand her rationale, but something wasn’t right about any of this.

After searching the room without touching anything, he turned stiffly and went into the small bathroom. Oddly, the toilet brush lay in a corner of the tile floor. The haunting scent that was driving him out of his mind was stronger here, possibly from the pink shampoo bottle on the shower ledge, or the small ceramic jar of body lotion on the vanity. He could almost imagine her standing there in front of him. But she wasn’t.

He scanned the rest of the vanity, taking in her cell phone and a crumpled white box.

A pregnancy test kit.

He stared at the box for a full minute, comprehension washing over him.

Why would a woman who said she couldn’t have children need a pregnancy test? Had she lied to him?

Kyle looked around the tiny bathroom for the test wand. His wife had shown him one once, and he knew what to look for. He found it on the floor beside the vanity. Breaking every rule of evidence in the book, he picked it up. Two pink lines. The test was positive.

Victoria was pregnant.

She’d been back in his life for only three weeks. Could a pregnancy test give results so soon?

Hell if he knew. But Victoria wasn’t the kind of woman to sleep around. She’d been reluctant to sleep with him at first. He didn’t doubt the baby was his.